Finland

ARTICLES ABOUT FINLAND BY DATE - PAGE 2

NEW DELHI: With an aim of giving a boost to India's relations with Scandinavian countries, President Pranab Mukherjee today left on a tour of Norway, the first by the Head of State, and Finland during which efforts will be made to attract investment from Norway to India. Accompanied by Union Minister of State for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Pon Radhakrishnan, the highlight of Mukherjee's visit to the two nations will be that he would be crossing the Arctic Circle and visiting the village of Santa Claus before he returns to India on Friday.

NEW DELHI: President Pranab Mukherjee will embark on a two-nation visit to Norway and Finland from October 12 during which he will meet Heads of the States and important functionaries. The first Indian President to visit Norway, Mukherjee will leave for Oslo on Sunday, official sources said. After meeting senior officials and members of Norwegian business community, he will arrive in Finland on October 14. During the visit, Mukherjee will meet his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinisto , Prime Minister Alexander Stubb and other leaders, an External Affairs Ministry statement said.

HELSINKI: Danish energy firm Danfoss A/S has offered to buy Finnish electric drive maker Vacon for nearly 1.04 billion euros, the companies said on Friday. In the tender offer, Vacon shareholders are being offered 34 euros for each share, representing a premium of 13 per cent to the stock's closing price on Thursday. Vacon said its board of directors recommend the owners to accept the offer.

By Rahul Singh As the Narendra Modi government completes 100 days in office, the prime minister seems keen to implement far-reaching changes, phasing out the old and ushering in the new. One of the first things he did was to question the relevance of the Planning Commission - a question also asked by his predecessor Manmohan Singh in 2009. The commission's inability to keep up speed with change has stood in the way of its primary responsibility - to act as think tank of high standards and futuristic vision, linked to the research and innovation council.

NEW DELHI: Nearly a year after Nokia announced the sale of its devices business to Microsoft , the Finnish company's new CEO, India-born Rajeev Suri , feels a sense of loss, but says the old company cannot be "recreated" and the leaner new firm is financially the strongest it has been in the last five years, partly due to the sale. "It's the strongest financial position we've had in the last five years. In Q1, we made 11.4% operating margin on the continuing operations.

NEW DELHI: Finnish mobile company Jolla is interested in hiring Nokia employees, who have been laid off by Microsoft which has acquired the mobile manufacturer. "What comes to the Microsoft job cuts: majority of our employees have a Nokia background, and we are always interested in new talent," Jolla Head of Communications Juhani Lassila told PTI in an email query in this regard. In July, Microsoft has announced slashing about 18,000 of its workforce over period of next year.

HELSINKI: Finland will nominate Jyrki Katainen , who stepped down as prime minister last month to seek a high-level European post, to become an EU commissioner on Thursday, new premier Alexander Stubb said. Katainen will replace Olli Rehn , EU commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, as Finland's representative at the European Commission. He could seek Rehn's post, one of the most powerful roles in the EU, but would face stiff competition, with former French finance minister Pierre Moscovici and the Netherlands' Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who chairs the Eurogroup, seen as potential candidates.

NEW DELHI: Netherlands-based Sanoma today said it will transfer its IT infrastructure and support to India's third largest software services firm Wipro as part of its 100 million euros cost-cutting programme. As part of the "centralisation" of services, 38 people in Finland and the Netherlands will become employees of Wipro. "As part of the strategic redesign communicated on October 31, 2013, Sanoma transfers all ICT infrastructure and support functions to Wipro," Sanoma said in a statement.

LAHTI: Finland's ruling conservative party prepared to elect a new leader on Saturday who will take over from Jyrki Katainen as the country's prime minister and contest a general election due in April 2015. The three candidates made a last push for support at a party congress among nearly 900 local leaders and more senior members of their National Coalition party who will take part in the vote. The result was expected around 1000 GMT. "The most important thing is that one of us three would become the next prime minister (also after the 2015 election)